Bush provokes abortion wars

Published 4:00 am, Friday, November 7, 2003

BY SIGNING legislation to ban "partial birth" abortion, and accentuating his action with inflammatory language, President Bush has assured that abortion rights -- as well as the direction of the federal judiciary --

will become central issues in the 2004 presidential campaign.

Americans have been put on notice: The right to choose cannot be taken for granted.

It is, without question, a gruesome procedure. It is also extremely rare -- almost always involving a wrenching decision on how best to alleviate a serious health risk to a pregnant woman. It is a case-by-case judgment that should be made by a physician, in consultation with a patient, after evaluating all medical and ethical issues.

The constitutionally dubious aspects of this particular restriction -- the first ban on an abortion procedure since the landmark Roe vs. Wade ruling of 1973 -- show the danger of mixing politics and medicine. Pro-choice groups argue that the legislation was worded so loosely that it could apply to many pre-viability abortions in the second trimester.

Significantly, the newly signed bill does not allow for an exception for the health of the pregnant woman. That omission may prove to be a fatal flaw from a constitutional perspective. The U.S. Supreme Court recently struck down a similar "partial birth" ban in Nebraska because of its failure to protect women's health.

The new law's implementation was halted by quick federal-court rulings in Nebraska, New York and San Francisco. Its constitutionality may ultimately be settled by the U.S. Supreme Court. This president's bold attempt to curtail abortion rights should remind voters that the winner of the 2004 election could make several appointments to the high court, and control the course of the judiciary for a generation or more.

In an ideal world, the "intact dilation and extraction" procedure would never have to be considered. But in the real world, the precariousness and unpredictability of human health sometimes presents doctors and patients with excruciating choices. Government should stay out of the way of these private deliberations on whether and how to end a troubled pregnancy.